The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1887-11-24
EMBARKING THE MAILS.
SCENES ON AN OCEAN STEAMER
At QUEENSTOWN,
A Peep at the Steerage Passengers-As
the Tender Draws Alongside-Fresh
Beauty of Irish Children-Counting the
Mail Eags-Outward Bound.

Peep at the Steerage Passengers-As
the Tender Draws Alongside-Fresh
Beauty of Irish ChiIdren-Counting the
Mail Eags-outward Bound. l.4<-
He must be very unlmpressionabie
person whose interest is not reused by the
scene on an American mail steamer on the
Gay after she leaves Liverpool, as she
steams along the Irish coast in the bright
sunlight of breezy morning The Vary
ing forms and colors of headland and
shore w6i;.,c.. alone -, he r~nrthv of notice;
but the curious mass of humanity gath
cred on the great ship is perhaps more in
teresting And it must be admitted that
the saloon passengers, taken as whole,
have to the observer less of interest and
character than the miscellaneous throng
who collect in the less favored quarters of
the ship. There is monotonous appear
ance OF comfort and prosperity about the
saloon pasgcngers-eachw with his private
chair-Wnich renders them little dull.
But every step among the steerage pas
senGHcs gives rise to guess or refec-
ton. Here is q sturdy fellow from q
Yorkshire iron works on his way to the
state to seek for employment. Close by
the saloon door is laborer from Wits
TALL raw boned, with couple of children
and q weary wife. The whole family have
an ar of dependency about them which
does not augur Well for their future. A
couple Of Italian masons are laughing and
Joking with very light hearts indeed; and
so one by one, each differing from the
other-sad or glad, hopeful or respondent,
full of confidence in the future or feeling
that across the ocean life cannot be harder
Of ha I1ox
moves about the ship. --..#
MOVEMENT AND BUsTLE.
But the white buildings on Roche's
point cleaning in the sunlight tell that
the vessel is nearing Queenstown, and q
feeling of movement and hustle comes over
passengers and crew. There is talk of a
run ashore; there is an eagerness to see
the last British port, a haste to post the
last letters to friends in England. The
ship slowly steams up the harbor, past the
heights of Carlisle fort, and ON as If she
were bound straight to the white terraces
of Queenstown. Gradually she ceases to
make Roadway, and comes to a standstin
between the little village of Whitegates
and the bleak sides of Spike island. The
tender is approaching; but already boats
full of untidy girls, selling apples and with
have surrounded the ship. AS the tender
draws alongside it is evident that the mails
have not arrived there are only piles of
luggage and crowd of passengers. Some
are English or Americans who have
crossed through Ireland to shorten the
voyage by some sixteen hours, or to visit
Killarney; most are emigrants from Ire
land. Soon the throng of Irish pours over
the gangway-a widowed father carrying
his infant, followed by half q dozen brown
eyed gentle looking children; a stalTart
youth with comedy sister; hard wien
faced old farmer in coat of frieze down
to his heels, with his wife. s-. 49,.
Nothing is more striking than the fresh
beauty of the Irish children and the
withered hardness of the middle aged and
elderly men and women. Most of them
carry their worldly goods in bag or a
handkerchief. Their heaps of bedding,
with the tin utensils for the voyage fas-
tened to them, are pitched one after an
other on the deck, while the owners vainly
try to push past the line of seamen to
secure their property. It would be sad
sight, this hurrying Of these people from
their homes, if one could forget the
squalid misery from which they are escap-
ing. But the tender has been emptied,
and is off again for the shore to meet the
mails. The train has Just drawn up, and
soon files of porters, like line of ants,
are putting the sacks on board, and the.
tender is prepared to make her second
trip.
COUNTING THE MAILBAGs. q
This time she has scarcely any other
burden but the mails; and so, when she
comes alongside of the steamer, a dozen
of the crew are very soon at work piling
them on the deck Of the ship. An officer
counts the bags as they come on board
zone, two, three, four, five, SIX, seven, eight.
nine, ten, tally" So they 60 over the
gangway by tens. They took mp great
part of the space on the tendar, and tliey
+ make a huge pile on the steamer; some
300 sacks of letters and papers make it
possible to realize the vast correspondence
or the present day. But for some time
the great ship has been slowly moving
seaward with the tug attached to her
amidships, and the line Of seamen hurry.
ing, each with his sack, aerom the gang.